1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to seating accessories, and especially to devices for supporting persons in a seated position on hard surfaces, including seating supports in bathing water.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A need has heretofore existed for a multipurpose chair which provides a safe support for seating on hard smooth surfaces. The chair can be used as a seating device on virtually any type of smooth surfaced floor including hardwood floors, linoleum floors, and also light tectured tile floors. In its most desirable application, the suction cups form a vacuum seal with the floor or other surface upon which the chair is positioned, although this is not absolutely necessary. For example, the chair finds additional application for use as a seating device in sand, such as at a beach. In this use, the suction feet of the chair tend to provide support to keep the front legs from sinking into the sand. Also, the rear cross bar provides a sufficiently broad area of support to keep the back legs from sinking into the sand.
The chair of the invention also finds significant utility when used as a positioning chair for handicapped children in a classroom situation. In many instances handicapped children have been unable to participate with children having full physical mobility who are gathered around a teacher and seated on the floor or upon a rug. By using the chair of the present invention, a physcially handicapped child can be seated in a low reclining position, quite near to the surface upon which the other children in the class are seated. The handicapped child is thereby not separated from the other children and is placed in the midst of the group, rather than apart or at a higher level than the other children. By being positioned as an equal in the group, the handicapped child acquires a sense of participation and belonging in the group. Also, the other children are not forced to look up in order to talk to the handicapped child, as is the case when the handicapped child is seated in a conventional chair. This physical separation has been a major barrier to communication between children having full physical mobility and handicapped children.
The chair of the invention also has a unique use as a device to facilitate the bathing of physically disadvantaged persons by others in conventional bathing areas. Small portable bath tubs have been utilized to bathe babies for many years and have been available in a variety of configurations. For example, commercially available portable bath tubs for babies have been of elongated form and constructed of plastic. Such a tub is filled with water to a shallow depth and rested upon some convenient surface, such as a kitchen counter or table. A baby may be placed in the tub and bathed, and the bath water thereafter disposed of in a kitchen sink or down the drain of a conventional adult size bath tube or shower. However, such portable path tubs are not at all stable, and a constant guard must be maintained to prevent over-turning and also to prevent the baby from turning its head into the bath water and choking. Violent eratic moments of a baby, such as frequently occur during bathing as a result of joy, rage or distress create a substantial danger of overturning the portable tub. If this happens, the baby is quite likely to fall a considerable distance, since such portable tubs are generally utilized on kitchen sinks, tables and other supports at heights of three feet or more.
Currently, portable bathing aids for use by persons above the infant stage are unavailable. When a child reaches an age or size at which bathing in portable bath tubs designed for infants presents unacceptable risks of injury, the portable bath tubs are no longer used and bathing must be carried out in full size bath tubs. This is extremely fatiguing to the mother or guardian of a small child since, without any constraints on movement, the bathing of the child becomes extremely difficult. Moreover, additional hazards are presented since, through inexperience, the child's movements on slippery porcelain surfaces can lead to serious injury. All too frequently, young children attempt to stand or climb in hence are injured.
The dangers in conventional bathing techniques for physically disadvantaged persons are magnified many times in the case of physically or mentally retarded children. In bathing such children, the difficulties in bathing children of a larger size are compounded with those which exist in bathing helpless individuals, such as infants. When such a person must be washed in a bath tub or bathing pool by another, bathing becomes an extremely emotionally and physically fatiguing experience for the person charged with the responsibility of washing the physically or mentally disadvantaged person. Frequently, the only practical way of accomplishing this task is for the mother to enter the bath tub with the child because of the physical strength that is otherwise involved.